1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to link aggregation technology. More specifically, the present invention provides techniques and mechanisms for efficiently aggregating physical links from two or more network devices into a single logical link.
2. Description of Related Art
Neighboring network devices in a network are typically interconnected through multiple physical links. For example, in an Ethernet network, multiple links may exist between two network devices. Each of the links connects a physical port from one device to a physical port of the other device.
In many instances, it may be beneficial to aggregate some of the physical links into logical links. That is, multiple physical links can be combined to form a logical interface to provide higher aggregate bandwidth, load balancing and link redundancy. When a packet is being transmitted over a logical link, it does not matter what particular physical link is being used as long as all the packets of a given flow are transmitted through the same logical link. If one physical link goes down, the logical link can still remain operational as long as there are other physical links present in the logical link. A logical link is also referred to herein as a port channel.
There continues to be a need for improved methods and mechanisms for efficiently managing logical links.